Fritz Pollard was the first African American to play on a championship football team, as well as the first black quarterback and coach in all of football. Only 5 feet 7 inches and 150 pounds, he had won the acceptance of his teammates at Brown University in Rhode Island in 1915. Leading his team to a victory over Yale giving him an invitation to the Tournament of Roses game in Pasadena California. Pollard was defeated 14-0, but he was the first African American to play in a Rose Bowl game. 

In 1916 Pollard had an outstanding season with an 8-0 record and wins over Yale and Harvard. After his service in World War 1 Pollard became the head football coach at Lincoln University and began playing professional football for Akron in the Ohio League. The next year he was the star player for the Akron Pros who won the first NFL Championship. In 1923 while playing with the Hammond Pros he had become the first African American quarterback in the league. Pollard also recruited other African Americans to come and play in the league. He continued to play in the NFL until 1926

Pollard continued to promote integration in football as the head coach of the Chicago Black Hawks and later the New York Brown Bombers coach. In 1954 Pollard became the second African American to be accepted into the College Football Hall of Fame and was later inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005

Fritz Pollard is an important figure because he started the line of many African Americans that are in Football today, and for many more that are yet to come.